Clippers guard Chris Paul (3) stands next to head coach Vinny Del Negro. Paul said his team never said "we had arrived" during the team's 17-game winning streak. MARCIO JOSE SANCHEZ, AP

Even after winning a franchise-record 17 games in a row, even after working their way to the top of the NBA standings, even after producing the Coach of the Month and the Player of the month, questions persist.

Chief among them: Who are the Clippers?

Are they the team that has blown out challengers on a nightly basis, capable of using their speed, athleticism and skill to dismantle whoever is on the schedule? Or are the Clippers more like the team limping into Friday night's important game against the Lakers as losers of two straight, seemingly unable to find the bottom of the net no matter how open they are?

Do you view the Clippers as an elite team that's just hit a rough patch of schedule, with consecutive road losses merely hiccups?

Or do you look at the consecutive sub-40 percent shooting games and grimace, suspecting that will be more the norm going forward as they face teams much more motivated to beat them night after night?

"Panic button time? Should we break this thing up?" point guard Chris Paul sarcastically asked after the Clippers lost to Golden State Wednesday night.

While it's certainly not time to panic, the Clippers team that will take the floor Friday is still a ways away from reaching its potential.

"Nobody on our team said 'We had arrived,'" Paul said Wednesday. "In out locker room, we didn't feel like we had arrived. We've just been playing."

So how will the Clippers reach their potential?

They've got to get healthy, be more consistent and become comfortable with their position on top of the league if they hope to stay there.

GETTING HEALTHY

Through 33 games, the Clippers have dealt with some run-of-the-mill nicks and bruises, with Lamar Odom (ankle and foot injuries), Eric Bledsoe (hip), Jamal Crawford (foot) and DeAndre Jordan (ribs) all ailing.

But when the Clippers talk about getting healthy, they're not really talking about those guys. No, they mean Chauncey Billups and Grant Hill.

Billups returned from Achilles surgery to play in just three games before suffering a setback with peroneal tendonitis in his left foot.

After losing to Golden State, Paul told a handful of reporters that the Clippers will be a "completely different team" once Billups is back healthy.

Billups has been out for the last month and could return to basketball activities sometime in January.

Hill's return from a bone bruise seems closer, though, and he'll change the complexion of the Clippers' second unit.

The team that won 17 consecutive games was a good one, but it's not the team the Clippers want to finish the season with.

They think that group is even better.

GETTING CONSISTENT

The Clippers haven't done anything but streak this season.

They won two, then lost two. Then they won five, then they lost four. Then they won 17, and now, they've lost two.

"You've seen it from us all year," Paul said.

The Clippers have talked a lot about not getting too high when they win and not getting too low when they lose. That gets tougher when the team is never lukewarm.

In order to get consistent results, the Clippers have to be consistent on defense.

Most nights, the team is aggressive in the passing lanes, crisp with rotations and out-and-running in transition. But they're not doing that every night.

While asking for the Clippers to play at a peak level each night isn't realistic, it would be better if the lulls weren't so low.

"It happens," Paul said. "You don't want it to happen, but it does."

GETTING COMFORTABLE

Another thing that's "happening" was on display Wednesday at Golden State.

The Clippers faced a crowd desperate to derail one of the league's best teams. The Warriors handed out T-shirts. The crowd howled like it was Game 7 of a playoff series. The building pulsed with energy even before the opening tip.

And the Clippers didn't respond.

"We got hit in the mouth," Paul said.

If you're wondering who the Clippers are, you just have to ask some of the coaches they've faced. Almost each one has used the term "championship contender."

So the Clippers find themselves in a position where they're going to constantly get their opponents' best shot. The games, particularly on the road, will all feel like big ones.

And the team has to be ready for that. The team has to thrive on it.

"We've got to understand that target that's there now," Coach Vinny Del Negro said. "And we have to respect it but also want it."

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